The Fight for this Love singer caught the disease only a year after making a fund-raising ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro to help beat it, and almost died.

In a video message, she said: “When I climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief five years ago it was honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

"The motivation lay in knowing it could help in eradicating malaria and ultimately saving lives by providing mosquito nets.

“I didn’t for one minute think that only a year later, I would get malaria myself and become so ill that, at one point, I was given 24 hours to live.

“It was the scariest thing you could ever imagine for me and for my friends and family. The pain I felt and went through, it’s what so many people go through, all because they don’t have a mosquito net which could save their life.

“I was lucky, I had the best care I could get. Some people are not so lucky. A £5 mosquito net could keep a child safe and really does help.

“In 2009 when I climbed Kilimanjaro a million kids a year were dying of malaria. Now five years later it’s 150,000 less per year. That’s 150,000 kids saved, so we are beating malaria.

"But there are hundreds of thousands who still need our help. Sport Relief money goes to helping provide mosquito nets to help the people that need it most.

“I’ve decided to speak out about this again now because having experienced it, it’s obviously very close to my heart and I want people to know how easy it is to help."